All products, including wind turbines and traditional solar PV modules, require energy to fabricate, transport, and install. Most of today’s solar PV is manufactured using a lot of energy supplied from the burning of coal.

The transportation costs of solar panels to a recycling facility can be as much as the cost of recycling itself. In the US, most of the old c-Si panels go to the landfill, with only about 10% being recycled.